1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer systems, and more particularly to detection and processing of windows.
2. Description of the Background Art
A computer network couples various remotely located computers together to allow them to exchange information. On the Internet, for example, a user with a personal computer and a web browser can access a remotely located web server computer. The web server computer serves (i.e., delivers) content to a window in the personal computer. The web server computer may include web pages containing information that is of interest to the user. The web server computer may also include downloadable computer programs.
A typical commercially-operated web server on the Internet includes some form of advertising. The advertising may be for goods or services. The advertising may also be non-product related (e.g., “vote for John Doe”). Regardless of their message, these advertisements provide revenue to the web server operator. Thus, not satisfied with just having advertisements on a web page, operators have come up with various ways of displaying advertisements on a user's computer screen. Needless to say, advertisements abound on the Internet.
One way of displaying advertisements is via a separate window. This separate window is commonly referred to as a “pop-up” if displayed on top of other windows, or a “pop-under” if displayed under other windows. Pop-ups and pop-unders appear on a user's screen when the user navigates to (i.e., visits) a web server containing them; along with the usual web page content, the web server also downloads to the user's computer HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) code for generating a pop-up and/or pop-under. Users often find pop-ups annoying because they tend to appear unexpectedly and in the middle of the screen. Some users have accepted pop-ups as an unavoidable nuisance on the Internet, and just instinctively remove them as soon as they appear. Pop-unders, which don't become visible to the user until windows on top of them have been removed, are no less annoying.
Computer programs have been developed to prevent pop-ups and pop-unders from appearing on a computer screen. Such computer programs are available from commercial software developers (e.g., InterMute), sources of freeware, and various web sites on the Internet including download.com, adext.magenet.net, adsubtract.com, iconlabs.net, 32 bit.com, etc. However, these computer programs either get rid of too many or too little pop-ups and pop-unders.
Web server operators and their partners have also come up with various ways of offering downloadable computer programs to users. One way of offering a computer program to a user is to present the user a dialog box explaining the function of the program, and a button or a hyperlink for downloading the program to the user's computer. Aside from the dialog box, the user typically has no other immediate source of information regarding the program, and is thus at the mercy of the web server operator or its partner.